Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament the Southern Connecticut State University baseball team fell to Adelphi 10-4.

Kevin Hutzel went 4-5 with three runs scored while the Panthers' five-through-seven hitters: Robert Vani, Eric Hassell and Kyle Ambury combined to go 6-for-15 with four runs scored and six RBI.

Adelphi, which had 16 hits, scored four runs in the first inning off Owls' starter Rocco Cundari (Norwalk, Conn.). Hassell had the big hit of the frame a two-run single with one out.

In the second, the visitors added to their lead when Richard Mejia singled home Hutzel.


Southern Connecticut struck for three runs with two outs in the third. Nick Baviello (Orange, Conn.) plated two with a single to center. T.K. Kiernan (Wallingford, Conn.) followed with a double to the centerfield wall to score the Owls' second baseman.

SCSU loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth but were only able to scratch an unearned run across the plate, cutting the Panthers' lead to one.

Adelphi tacked on three runs off a tiring Cundari in the seventh. Vani had an RBI single and Ambury scored two with a double to right during the Panthers' five-run inning.

Cliff Brantley, who went 3-for-5, and Hutzel began the eighth with singles off reliever Mike Yerina (Trumbull, Conn.). Pat Egan (Aberdeen, N.J.) came on to get out of the inning with no damage done. 

Kyle Holland (Norwich, Conn.) and Baviello each had a team-high two hits on the day.

The two starters settled down after their respective difficult innings, combining for seven 1-2-3 innings on the afternoon.

Jonathan Mulford (5-2) kept the Owls in check over 7.2 innings. The sophomore gave up four runs on eight hits while striking out a half dozen. During his outing, there were two stretches where the right-hander retired seven in a row.

Cundari (5-3) allowed eight runs, seven of them earned over 6.1 innings. The 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year allowed 11 hits and struck out three.

In relief of the Owls' ace, Yerina had one of his roughest appearances this year. The All-Northeast-10 Conference selection allowed two runs on five hits.

Egan retired all six Panthers he faced with three strikeouts.

SCSU closes the season at 24-15-1.